Development of Survey Questionaire

Developing a questionaire requires creativity. To begin, it

was decided that a variety of question-response formatssuch as
Open-Ended, Close-Ended, and caled-!esponse be used. "or Open-
Ended questions, the probed format was used to encourage the
respondent to provide information beyond the initial first
comments. There was a variety of Closed-Ended
questions.Dichotomous closed-ended questions has only two
response options, such as #male$ or #female$. There were also a
few multi category closed-ended questions. %oth forms were chosen
because they facilitate the questioning process as well as data
entry.
&
'abeled scaled-response questions were chosen to measure
sub(ective properties of consumers.
)n developing the survey questionaire, the ultimate goal was
to devise a way to tap the respondent*s true response without
influencing him or her either blatantly or subtly.The questions
developed focussed on the research problem #+hy is ,didas loosing
-ar.et hare in the /0$. ,fter numerous drafts, unecessary and
redundant words were eliminated. This process was important
because brevity will help the respondent to comprehend the
central question and reduce the distraction of wordiness.
1
The
questions were designed using everyday language but did not
1
Burns; Bush, Marketing Research: 306
2
Burns; Bush, Marketing Reserch: 347
include slang or (argon and was easily interpreted by each
respondent.
The group decided on a disguised survey where the sponsoring
company, in this case ,didas, was not identified. The purpose of
the survey was identified in the introduction of the questionaire
which stated # +e are students at Temple /niversity and need your
help in conducting a survey for a -ar.eting !esearch Class.$
To facilitate the questioning process, the first few
questions were screening questions, which were to determine
whether the respondent qualified to participate in the survey. ,n
E2ample of this question is # ,bout how many pairs of snea.ers
have you bought in the past year0$ "ollowing the screening were
warm-up questions which were simple and easy to answer. The flow
of questions used the funnel approach which, uses a wide-to-
narrow or general-to-specific flow of questions that places
inquiries at the beginning of a topic on the questionaire that
are general in nature, and those requiring more specific and
detailed responses later on
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Once the questions had been approved
by the instructor and minor corrections were made, data
collection began by using convenience sampling.
Sample Profile
3
Burns;Bush, Marketing Research: 363
-a(ority of the respondents were Temple /niversity
undergraduates. 445 of the respondents were female and 645 were
male. 745 of the respondents had purchased between one and si2
snea.ers in the past year. 895 purchased snea.ers anytime, 395
purchased snea.ers on sale and &95 at full price.
Characteristics of Respondents
-ost of the students surveyed were from :eneration ;. These
are low income, fashionable and education oriented people, who
have a great <eal for life. -ost generation ;er*s or Echo boomers
are trendsetters changing the face of many industries and how
products are mar.eted. !espondents were generally willing to
participate once they were informed that the researchers were
fellow students. -all intercepts were used to create diversity of
respondents.
Usage of Sneakers
)t was not until the mid-&7=9*s that the >orth ,merican
general public*s increased interest in health and fitness began
to change the face of shoe-ma.ing, spawning industry giants such
as >i.e and !eebo..
6
>i.e?s ,ir technology, which used a gas-
filled bag of air inserted in the sole of the shoe to cushion the
impact of running, first appeared in &7=7.
5
,thletic shoes !unning
4
Fritz, Sandy. High !"#h$ !o%s.& Popular Science 'u(y 1))4: 67.
5
*a+n"y, ,ndr"-. ./unning on ,ir.. Popular Mechanics 0ay 1))4: 37.
shoes became more of a fashion item than an athletics item in the
early &779?s.
8

ince that time, athletic shoes have become increasingly
speciali<ed and snea.er prices have grown in accordance to the
advances in technology.
=
895 of the respondents surveyed said
they used snea.ers for fashion and were concerned about being
cool. 895 respondents did not purchase ,didas shoes because they
were perceived as uncool.
Results of the survey
+hen as.ed the most important factor when choosing a pair
of snea.ers@ 395 said brand and visual appeal, 345 said comfort
and quality, 195 said price and product selection, and &45 said
color. 495 of the respondents said >i.e was their favorite brand,
&45 !eebo., 195 >ew %alance, and &95 ,didas. +hen as.ed how
li.ely respondents were to buy ,didas, 695 said somewhat li.ely,
195 said e2tremely unili.ely and 145 were neutral, &95 were
somewhat unli.ely, and 45 were e2tremely li.ely. A95 9f
respondents had never used ,didas shoes and 15 had received
,didas shoes as gifts and A5 had purchased ,didas shoes based on
price. 745 of respondents said they would consider purchasing
,didas shoes if the styles were appealing, more colors, more
comfort and if Bobe %ryant was removed from the commercials.
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B"tts, 1ath"rin". .Fashion 2u3%s 4%.. Vogue 'an. 1))4: 54.
7
S3ith, *"o++r"y. .Sn"a6"rs that 'u3% into th" 2ast.. Business Week 13 0ar. 1))5: 71.
Limitations
Considering the fact that the researchers were students and
had no budget, convenience sampling was the only alternative
available. The time frame for the research was short even though
this pro(ect began the second wee. of class. -all intercepts and
self administered surveys were used because they are fast and
convenient data collection methods. The sample si<e could not be
determined before hand since convenience sampling was being used
and the sample si<e was relatively small and not representative
of the total population. >onreponse was a problem since some
questions were partially anwered and had to be deleted from the
decoding process.
Conslusions
"rom the survey and focus group, it became apparent that our
research problem was accurate. Consumers thought ,didas was
uncool, uncomfortable and price was not an issue when purchasing
shoes. The use of .obe %ryant in commercials was not helping
,didas since his attitudes were being transferred to the shoes.
ome respondents complained the three stipes were too much. )t
also came to light that even though consumers were very loyal to
brands, most would switch brands if persuaded with the right
tools.
Recommendations
,didas stands to gain mar.et share if it broadens its
product line with innovative shoes that are visually appealing
and comfortable. ,didas could create new commercials that have a
better li.ed athlete than Bobe %ryant and could buy prime time
spots so the ads would have wide reach.